Annotated tool kit of resources for public health professionals, nonprofits, foundations, and others interested in learning about and using community organizing tools and strategies for their work in equity and social change

1. Tools and resources for community organizing
Developed for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation by
Meredith Minkler, David Rebanal, Robin Pearce & Maria Acosta*
Spring, 2018
Below are sample tools and other resources for community organizers, as well as
funders and other stakeholders interested in supporting community organizing for
advancing social and health equity. Although grouped by major topic for ease of use,
many of the resources are relevant across multiple categories.
General tools for community organizing and building organizational
capacity and sustainability
The University of Kansas’ Community Tool Box, over 7,000 pages in length, includes
numerous tools for community builders, organizers, funders and other stakeholders. Chapters
include community organizing base building, transformative change, increasing diversity, and
evaluating and communicating about the work. Many of the tools included in this resource guide
come from the Community Tool Box.
http://ctb.ku.edu/
The Center for Popular Democracy’s “Seeding Justice” report grows out of its equity-focused
work with high-impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions.
The report provides lessons from community organizing in order to provide strategies for
generating support and sustaining organizational capacity.
https://populardemocracy.org/news/publications/seeding-justice-revenue-generating-
membership-and-fundraising-canvasses-community
The Praxis Project’s Creating Communities for Healthy Environments provides on line
tools for base building, target mapping, media relations, engaging youth and many other facets of
organizing.
http://ccheonline.org/sites/default/files/Tips_on_Base_Building.pdf
Trainings.350 is an organizer and facilitator’s guide to tools, exercises and handouts for
building capacity and power. Training topics include base building, actions, strategy and media
work and are available in seven languages.
https://trainings.350.org/for/meeting-facilitators/
The National Latino Council’s “Take Action, Create Change” is a community organizing
toolkit containing community-ready exercises and tips for engaging and mobilizing residents and
community-based organizations. Although dated, it remains relevant for contemporary settings
and organizing campaigns.
http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/LCAT_Take_Action_Create_Change_-
_Community_Organizing_Toolkit.pdf

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Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) promotes health equity and social
justice through partnerships between communities and academic institutions. Its Community-
BasedParticipatory Research listserv is a virtual meeting place and weekly newsletter (~4,600
members) and offers resources including new tools, positions, and funding opportunities for
community-engaged research for action.
https://ccph.memberclicks.net/ https://ccph.memberclicks.net/listservs-and-social-media
Identifying Targets and Agents of Change: Who Can Benefit and Who Can Help
This section of the Community Tool Box helps organizations and coalitions think broadly about
who they’re trying to reach and who can help reach them. Also discussed is how to develop a
plan to ensure that everyone who can benefit or help has been identified.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/analyze/where-to-start/identify-targets-and-agents-of-
change/main
Troubleshooting and thinking like an organizer
This Community Tool Box resource includes reflection questions for working in and with
communities or foundations to address 14 challenges. When needing a better understanding of a
community or situation, questions include: What matters to the people? To other stakeholders?
Have we gathered and reviewed the evidence? Identified resources and assets…?
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/understand-community-or-situation-better
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/troubleshooting-guide
My Healthy Organization
Organizational assessment for social change organizations to help assess the org internally and
within its specific political and historical context.
https://myhealthyorganization.roadmapconsulting.org/what-is-an-organizational-assessment-
mho/
The Praxis Project’s “Roots and Remedies” conferences
As part of its work supporting organizational capacity building and collaboration for social
change locally and nationally, the Praxis Project’s “Roots and Remedies” conference is
conducted annually. This national gathering of organizers enables the sharing of tools and
strategies for community organizing and celebrating accomplishments
http://www.thepraxisproject.org/ourevents/roots-and-remedies
Organizing with and by particular communities and populations
Faith-based organizing
PICO National Network The largest faith-based network of congregations in the U.S., PICO
provides county reports and score cards on mass incarceration and criminalization; approaches
for healing communities in crisis due to gun violence; and tool kits to fight problems like
predatory lending.
www.PICO.org

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Greater Birmingham Ministries is a multi-faith, multi-racial organization dedicated to serving
people, building community and pursuing justice. The GMB resource library is a list of
materials/books/media that cover public policy issues, equality, economic issues, faith and social
action.
http://gbm.org/building-community/resource-library/
Rural Organizing
Western Organization of Resources Councils (WORC) is a region network of grassroots
community organizations that are dedicated to a democratic, sustainable and just society though
community action. WORC has a list of resources on how build organization, winning issues,
media and voter participation as well as research and reports relevant to rural community
organizing.
http://www.worc.org/how-tos/
The Rural Organizing Project (ROP) in Oregon offers an “organizing tool kit” for small town
and rural groups, with ideas on “kitchen table organizing” (for small groups taking common
actions), a “democracy grid,” as well as a “capacity building tool kit” with resources on
leadership teams, data base and communication systems, sustainability etc.
http://www.rop.org/member-groups/organizing-tools/
Youth organizing and engagement
Advocates for Youth, directed at both youth and their adult allies, provides resource “advocacy
kits” on topics including how to work with youth, policy and advocacy with youth, and youth
activism program descriptions. A special current focus is on youths’ right to honest sexual health
information.
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/policy-and-advocacy/activist-resources
FCYO's Youth Community Organizing Resource Exchange (Youth CORE) Founded by the
Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing, the Youth Core website provides activities to
support build sustainable youth organizing and youth power. Includes toolkits on youth
leadership development, simple worksheets on financial management for youth organizers, etc.
with special focus on low income youth and youth of color.
https://fcyo.org/programs/youth-community-organizing-resource-exchange-youth-core
Organizing by and with communities of color
Organizing for Power, Organizing for change: Resources for organizers and trainers.
Website offers numerous tools including anti-oppression exercises, a worksheet for action
planning, and concepts for creating justice and looking at power relationally.
https://organizingforpower.org/anti-oppression-resources-exercises/
Roots of Justice: Stories of organizing in communities of color

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This 1998 Chardon Press book by L Salomon still has relevance in presenting often forgotten
stories of successful organizing in communities of color to end discrimination in the navy, and
achieve welfare reform and other outcomes.
https://www.amazon.com/Roots-Justice-Stories-Organizing-Communities/dp/0787961787
Center for Community Change
The Center for Community Change seeks to build the power and capacity of low-income people
of color to change their communities and public policies. For inspiration or guidance on building
power and capacity in your community, see CCC's blog:
https://www.communitychange.org/real-power/blog/
Organizing for Power, Organizing for change: Resources for organizers and trainers.
Website offers numerous tools including anti-oppression exercises, a worksheet for action
planning, and concepts for creating justice and looking at power relationally.
https://organizingforpower.org/anti-oppression-resources-exercises/
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
APEN organizes the Asian Pacific Islander community for social change through environmental
justice. APEN’s website includes policy-relevant score cards guides and fact sheets for the state
of California, webinar powerpoints (e.g., on “Ensuring clean air, clean energy and revitalized
communities”), and inspiring cases studies of environmental justice victories, e.g., from the
Laotian Organizing Project.
https://apen4ej.org/media-resources/resources/
Organizing in and by LGBTQ communities
Southerners on the Ground (SONG) does organizing and training at the grass roots for and
with LGBTQ people and their allies. The SONG website includes Core Organizing Tools, such
as base building, strategy development, analyzing root causes, and reshaping power as part of
relational organizing. The one pager below is also useful as a general organizing tool regardless
of populations involved and issues addressed.
http://southernersonnewground.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/SONG-Relational-
Organizing.pdf
Pay it Forward: a new way to fund LGBTQ organizing in the South is a resource from
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy that presents this and other topics and case
studies involving organizing in marginalized communities from both community and funder
perspectives. https://www.ncrp.org/
Assessing Our Organizations. This resource is useful in identifying the gaps and opportunities
to strengthening an organization’s commitment to LGBTQ equality. In identifying opportunities
within existing work, an organization can deepen the understanding and skills of staff, leadership
and membership around LGBTQ equality and issues.
http://www.westernstatescenter.org/tools-and-resources/Tools/assessing-our-organizations
Shared Oppressions. After an organization has established key issues and priorities— the next
step is to examine and connect LGBTQ issues to the priorities they are already focused on.

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Organizers can use this tool to ground the conversation about LGBTQ rights in the experiences
of communities of color, for example, and create opportunities to logically extend the work to
engage potential LGBTQ constituents.
http://www.westernstatescenter.org/tools-and-resources/Tools/shared-oppressions
Immigrant and refugee rights organizing
The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) works to defend and
expand the rights of all immigrants and refugees and builds alliances with social and economic
justice partners around the country. It provides space and support for immigrants rights
movement organizing and capacity building, a popular education resource (Bridge) and other
resources, while paying special attention to raising women’s voices, LGBTQ outreach and
leadership development, and strengthening ties and alliances with allies in the faith, racial,
criminal and environmental justice movements.
www.nnirr.org
SIREN (Services, immigrant and refugee rights and education) Community organizing and
facilitating empowerment and leadership development in immigrants and their communities is a
as primary focus of SIREN. Its immigrant-led community-based projects include the Seven
Trees Leadership Group in East San Jose, CA and Multiethnic Immigrant Community
Organizers, which educates and organizes immigrants on state and federal issues, and trains
leaders to organize and engage their ethnic community base. See website for leadership
development program information.
http://www.siren-bayarea.org/
Centro Presente Run by and working with by Latino immigrants, East Boston’s Centro
Presente in East Boston is focused on the root causes and day-to-day realities of immigration. Its
principle goal is to educate, organize and empower the immigrant community to advocate for
itself and advance just and humane immigration policy reform. Centro Presente’s principle tools
are its Immigrant Rights Committee, Know your Rights Workshops and Immigrant Rights
Campaigns. Useful resources on website include its videos, on topics like “the female face of
forced migration” and “Just Communities: An immigrant rights documentary” as well as its
radio programming and youth organizing efforts.
http://www.cpresente.org/news-publications/videos
Tools for racial equity and increasing diversity and inclusion
Unlearning RacismTM/community organizing workshops offered by the People’s Institute for
Survival and Beyond are the best known of many antiracism trainings, with each 2.5 day
workshop followed by technical assistance. Community organizations and other groups are
helped to develop a common language for understanding and analyzing different forms of
racism, their historical context, and one’s personal connection to institutionalized racism as it
impacts their work. http://www.pisab.org
Racial Equity Tools is designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial
equity. This site offers tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase

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their own understanding and to help those working toward justice in systems, organizations,
communities and the culture at large.
http://www.racialequitytools.org/act/strategies/community-organizing
Challenging ourselves: Critical reflection on power and privilege, by Cheryl Hyde This
resource is by community organizers to help those focused on social justice and equity to
examine their own situations, privileges etc. through a four-step process. Two tools, a “cultural
Identity inventory” and an “assessment for connecting cultural identity to community practice”
are included. Available as an appendix in Minkler (Ed., 2012) Community Organizing and
community building for health and welfare (3rd edition), and online at:
https://cbprinstitute.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/hyde-critical-sefl-reflection-and-privilege.pdf
Creating conditions that maximize inclusion A crucial reflection question for breaking down
exclusion and maximizing inclusion (with accompanying resources) is “Have we created
conditions that will allow the greatest diversity of people and organizations to participate?”
available on the Community Tool Box website: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/not-enough-community-
participation
Enhancing cultural competence This detailed resource and exercise from the Community Tool
Box helps groups and organizations assess and improve their inclusiveness and cultural
understanding. Includes eight question areas, including conducting a “cultural audit” of different
cultures or shared experiences in the community or group, to building a culturally competent
organization and a culturally inclusive community. Many sub questions and additional resources
are included in each section.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/enhancing-cultural-competence
Resources for funders on supporting community organizing
The Foundation Center’s Community Organizing Tool Box includes a history of community
organizing, current organization types, insights into how and why different foundations became
involved in funding community organizing, and two in-depth case studies. Other resources
included are A Funder's Guide to Community Organizing by the Washington DC-based
Neighborhood Funders Group.
http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/connections/community-organizing-toolbox-a-funders-guide-
to-community-organizing?_ga=2.4194803.118053719.1509470125-1181678792.1509470125
Grantcraft’s Funding Community Organizing A service of the Foundation Center,
Grantcraft’s “Funding Community Organizing: Social Change through Civic Participation”
includes links to resources on topics including capacity building for community organizing
grants, resources for funding community organizing, and the grantmaker’s role as advocate and
bridge builder in community organizing.
http://www.grantcraft.org/guides/funding-community-organizing
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy The NCRP website includes case
studies and reports on such topics as “transformative philanthropy: supporting institution-based

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community organizing” with special attention to work for and with marginalized and
underserved communities. Also included are publications such as “Pay it Forward: a new way
to fund LGBTQ organizing in the South” , written from both community and funder viewpoints
https://www.ncrp.org/publication/responsive-philanthropy-summer-2013/transformative-
philanthropy-supporting-institution-based-community-organizing
Tools to support public policy grantmaking This article by M. Campbell and J Coffman
provides guidance for how funding institutions can frame, focus, and fund efforts to achieve
policy change, including organizing and mobilizing efforts. It also includes two tools designed
to support foundations during the strategy development process. Available online and in the
Nonprofit Review, 2009, 1(3).
http://www.pointk.org/client_docs/File/center_pubs/public_policy_grantmaking.pdf
The Grantmaking for Community Impact Project This project of the NCRP, based on
research in diverse parts of the U.S., demonstrated the high return on grant dollars invested in
policy and civic engagement efforts of non-profits. The project measured impact using
quantitative and qualitative methods, drawing on recent advances in advocacy evaluation,
organizing outcome measurement, etc. Website shares how foundations can using high-impact
strategies for long-term positive social. change.
https://www.ncrp.org/publications/grantmaking-for-community-impact-project
The California Endowment’s Foundation Diversity Policy and Practices Tool Kit This Tool
Kit from The California Endowment and Social Policy Research Associates includes helpful
resources from a number of foundations including their diversity principles and plans, how
diversity and inclusion are included in their application guidelines, and in their employment
practices.
http://www.spra.com/wordpress2/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/TCE-Diversity-Toolkit.pdf
Policy-Focused Organizing and Advocacy
PolicyLink’s Getting Equity Advocacy Results (GEAR) draws on the experience of advocates
and action researchers to provide useful benchmarks, frameworks, and tools for measuring
progress in equity efforts for policy change across a range of issues. The broader PolicyLink
website also provides blogs, tools and resources for advocates, organizers and others on topics
including Community-Centered Policing and holds an annual or bi-annual national Equity
Summit. www.policylink.org
Tools to Support Public Policy Grantmaking This article in the Foundation Review presents
Campbell & Coffman’s foundation engagement tool for policy-focused change. Five essential
steps for developing public policy strategy are discussed: choosing the public policy goal,
understanding the challenge, identifying which audience can move the issue, etc., and a tool
provided for assessing and increasing board engagement in the work.
http://www.pointk.org/client_docs/File/center_pubs/public_policy_grantmaking.pdf

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CBPR: a strategy for building healthy communities and promoting health through policy
change This 2012 report by PolicyLink and UC Berkeley, includes principles of CBPR and its
utility as a strategy and frame for policy change. Includes websites and tips for demystifying the
policy process, evaluating contributions of CBPR partnerships to policy change, and 6 case
studies in areas including environmental justice, the role of Latina promotoras (or community
health promoters) in fighting obesity, and a partnership started by homeless youth to change
discriminatory policies in education, criminal justice and other areas in Los Angeles.
http://www.policylink.org/sites/default/files/CBPR.pdf
Speaking Truth to Power: A guide to Policy Work for Community-based Participatory
Researchpractitioners by Cassandra Ritas, 2003, is a tool kit with brief sections and exercises
on topics including: the CBPR advocacy process; following the policy trail to decision makers;
and a simple guide to changing policy and practice. Worksheets and other tools include a policy
map for determining who’s engaged and in what ways and a worksheet for prioritizing goals.
http://www.livingknowledge.org/fileadmin/Dateien-Living-
Knowledge/Dokumente_Dateien/Toolbox/LK_F_Toolkit_for_Policy_Change.pdf
Guide to power mapping Making and using a power map is helpful for organizers wanting a
visual tool to think more strategically with a community team about a policy or other position
they support or oppose. Using circles (targets with the power to make change happen) and
squares (players affected by the problem or policy change) with overlapping and varying size of
the shapes, can indicate their relative strength etc. Move to Amend provides a guide to power
mapping with detailed steps and an illustration using different colored lines in place of shapes
but the same utility in practice.
https://movetoamend.org/toolkit/guide-power-mapping
Evaluating Processes and Outcomes of Community Organizing
The Alliance for Justice’s Resources for Evaluating Community Organizing (RECO) is a
compendium of case studies, tools, methods and theoretical approaches to evaluation for
community organizing efforts. RECO provides lessons from other organizers in the field about
promising practices and challenges to demonstrating progress, outcomes, and wins.
https://www.bolderadvocacy.org/tools-for-effective-advocacy/overview-of-evaluating-
community-organizing/reco
Evaluating a Community Initiative is outlined in this chapter from the Community Tool Box.
The second tab of the page provides examples.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/evaluating-initiative
Monitoring changes in community/ collective’s priorities and goals over time The
evaluation tool “Rating Community Goals” from the KU Community Tool Box is useful for
community groups and organizers trying to shift priorities or change the political narrative. A
survey template is provided as an adaptable tool for use in diverse contexts.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluate-community-initiatives/community-
goals/main

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Developing and finding Community- level Indicators helps assess changes at a broader,
neighborhood or community, rather than individual level, while also providing objective
measures of outcomes. This chapter from the Community Tool Box provides sample CLIs (e.g.,
studying an anti-tobacco campaign by capturing changes in tobacco sales in neighborhood stores
v. individual survey responses about changes in personal smoking behavior)
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluate-community-initiatives/examples-of-
community-level-indicators/main
The Action Catalogue is “an online decision support tool” to help organizers, researchers,
policymakers and others determine the best frame and methods for conducting their own
inclusive research http://actioncatalogue.eu/
The Coalition Empowerment Assessment Tool, from organizer Tom Wolff and Associates,
offers coalition members and organizers a good way to discuss, with their groups 3-4 key
questions under each of several categories from goals and vision (is empowerment an explicit
part of coalition goals?) though membership (exclusive or inclusive?) to communication,
decision making etc. Additional resources appear under each category.
https://www.tomwolff.com/coalition-empowerment-self-assessment-tool.htm
Scale for Measuring Perceptions of Control at the Individual, Organizational,
Neighborhood, and beyond-the-Neighborhood Levels (Israel, B., Schulz, A.J., Parker, E.A.,
Becker, A.B.) in Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Welfare, Third
Edition, Meredith Minkler, Editor, 2012), Rutgers University Press.
Although not available on line, this scale is widely used in assessing changes in community
participants’ beliefs about the extent to which they personally, their organization and their
neighborhood, have influence or control over what happens on these various levels. Participants
indicate on a 5 point scale the extent to which they agree with questions such as: “I can influence
decisions that affect my life;” “People in my neighborhood can work together to influence
decisions at the city, state, or national level;” and “This organization can influence decisions that
affect the neighborhood or community.” Before and after use of this tool can provide a baseline
measure of perceived control with follow up administration used to assess any changes after
taking part in an organizing campaign, training or project.
EvaluLEAD Guide The Public Health Institute’s Sustainable Leadership Initiative (by Grove,
Kibel, and Haas) provides an evaluation framework including questions for assessing community
transformation and transformational leadership. Steps include: clarifying the vision, the context
and how leadership is defined; defining desired results, including any project-related outcomes
that might be considered transformative at the individual, organizational, and community levels.
Accessible via Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia (SPARC BC)
http://www.sparc.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/evalulead.pdf
Using Stories,Media and SocialMedia in Assessment,Evaluationand
Communication of findings

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Digital Storytelling builds on the narrative tradition in community organizing to help amplify
voices for social change in the digital era. The Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, CA,
offers trainings and resources for organizers, educators and others who wish to use the power of
personal stories for large scale change. The book, Capturing Lives, Creating Community (4th
edition) by CDS co-founder J. Lambert, includes the history and methods of digital storytelling
practices, and uses a "7 Steps" approach to dynamic digital storytelling--from seeing the story to
assembling it, and sharing it.
https://elmcip.net/organization/center-digital-storytelling
Photovoice is a process by which people can critically assess their community’s strengths and
challenges, as well as underlying causes of problems faced, through a guided process of taking
pictures to capture their realities and then deconstructing them individually and as a group and
developing an action plan. Good resources on Photovoice and its use can be found on:
https://photovoice.org/
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-
resources/photovoice/main
Evaluation Exchange’s Using storytelling to help evaluate and communicate results To put
a human face on (or in place of) statistics, as organizers and evaluators have done for decades,
this issue of Evaluation Exchange includes two short and compelling case studies by D. Johnson
to illustrate the synergy between storytelling and statistics.
http://www.hfrp.org/var/hfrp/storage/original/application/19b2539882d0ff8a9064b88341d8ad3a.
pdf
Communicating findings, successes, and problem to multiple audiences. This chapter from
the KU Community Tool Box provides detailed, step-by-step guidance to help organizers and
others decide what to communicate to whom and through what medium. Also includes a sample
outline for an evaluation report enabling users to communicate about how power was measured
in their community.
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation-to-understand-and-improve/funder-
support-accountability/main
Media Advocacy (Berkeley Media Studies Group) BMSG provides trainings, publications,
and tools and resources for community organizers, public health professionals and others
interested in media advocacy, or the strategic use of mass media to help frame and present issues
from a community or health equity perspective, to help achieve healthy policy change. BMSGs
website includes briefs on topics like junk food advertising and the childhood obesity epidemic,
and tools on how to develop a strategic media plan, craft an effectively framed message or work
successfully with journalists. A seven-part media advocacy curriculum also is available on the
website.
http://www.bmsg.org/
Idealware’s Non Profit Social Media Decision Guide was created to help organizations
determine what results and benefits they can reasonably expect from social media, and to guide

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users through the process of identifying the right channels for different goals. Their workbook
helps turn theory into practice to address real-world needs.
https://www.idealware.org/reports/nonprofit-social-media-decision-guide/
*Developed by Meredith Minkler, David Rebanal, Robin Pearce and Maria Acosta, and
reflecting insights and issues addressed by community organizers in four regional convenings
funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Summer, 2017. We are grateful to the many
organizers who shared their wisdom and experience; the RWJF and current and former program
officers John Govea and Mike White for envisioning and supporting this work; and our
exceptional organizational partners and convening planners and facilitators: the Praxis Project,
PICO National Network, the Center for Community Change, and the Center for Popular
Democracy. We hope that this tool kit will assist community organizers and their partners and
networks as well as foundation project officers, boards and grantees interested in better
incorporating or supporting community organizing as a strategy for social and health equity.
Please share freely and cite as Minkler, Rebanal, Pearce and Acosta, 2018, Tools and resources
for community organizing @ the website on which you found it. Thank you!